Dr. David Kessler, M.D. is an American pediatrician, lawyer, author, and administrator (both academic and governmental). He was the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from 1990 to 1997. He made the agency more efficient, cutting the time needed to approve or reject new drugs, including AIDS drugs, and more vigilant in protecting consumers against unsafe products and inflated label claims. It was also under his watch that FDA enacted regulations requiring standardized Nutrition Facts labels on food. Dr. Kessler is also known for his role in the FDA’s attempt to regulate cigarettes, which resulted in the FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. case. He was awarded the Public Health Hero award on April 2, 2008 by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health for his work in tobacco regulation. This talk is hosted by the Vancouver Institute, and is a Irving K. Barber Learning Centre Lecture.
Speaker Bio:
After graduating from Amherst College in 1973, David Kessler studied medicine at Harvard University, graduating with a M.D. degree in 1979. While at Harvard Dr. Kessler obtained a law degree J.D. in 1977 from the University of Chicago.[1] While serving his residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, he worked as a consultant to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah, particularly on issues relating to the safety of food additives, and on the regulation of cigarettes and tobacco. From 1984-1990, Kessler simultaneously ran a 431-bed teaching hospital in New York City and taught at the Columbia Law School and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
More Resources Available at UBC Library
Kessler, David A. The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite (2009) [Available at Okanagan Library – QU145 .K47 2009]
Eisdorfer, Carl, David A. Kessler, and Abby N. Spector, eds. Caring for the Elderly: Reshaping Health Policy. (1989) [Available at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre – WT30 .C3746 1989]